Label: Illuminated Records – JAMS 23 Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album Country: UK Released: 1982 Genre: Rock Style: Art Rock, Post-Punk, Experimental
Monumental 2LP debut album from London post-punks Normil Hawaiians ‘More Wealth Than Money’ - a raging inferno of freeform creativity and unbridled expression resulting from an extended studio stay in the Welsh countryside, whilst heavily under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms, yet for strange administrative reasons far too ridiculous to understand, was never available to buy in the UK upon its release. It’s a true odyssey of mammoth proportions, with the group keen to shred the generic, restrictive confirms of their post-punk beginnings by setting up camp in Foel Studios with engineer Dave Anderson, known previously for his work with Hawkwind and Amon Duul II. His input is obvious, morphing their sound into something totally unique - easily labeled as ‘psychedelic post-punk’ but I still feel that massively undersells it - songs are extended to prog-rock scale, keeping the tape machine running whilst encouraging and weaving in spontaneous improvisation. The prickly, WIRE-indebted opener ‘Red Harvest’ sets us off on the journey before ‘British Warm’ wanders off on a moody, hallucinogenic, art-rock riot with scrappy thumb piano motifs, HUGE drums and meandering vocals slowly building into wheezing, run-in-the-red synth lines and searing guitar fuzz to finally unleash a cathartic release of shamanic scale. The softer ‘Yellow Rain’ brings us right down - a more intimate, downtrodden moment with weeping synth strings and Guy Smith’s dewy-eyed vocals, whilst ‘New Standard’ launches into a sweat-drenched motorik runaway that gives the feel of a true British kosmiche. I mean honestly, there’s so much going on here on this sprawling, hugely ambitious debut album that words really do fall short.. if you already know it then I’m preaching to the converted, if you don’t.. holy shit - I envy thee.. (NM/NM - 1982 Illuminated Records OG)
Tracklist A1 Red Harvest 2:47 A2 British Warm 10:00 A3 Yellow Rain 4:45 B1 New Standard 2:34 B2 An Old Standard 5:00 B3 Other Ways Of Knowing 9:57 C1 Words Are Not Enough 1:51 C2 Return Of Hollow Lands 4:10 C3 Ha Ha, The Story Of A Sunken Fence 2:41 C4 Sally IV 8:05 D1 Left Alone With Her Pipe 10:15 D2 Travelling West 10:05
